[Cam]

Thanks very much – I think that’s very helpful – hope others do too.

[Cam]

Thank you for your swift response. I doubt that knowing they were being recorded would in any way deter the owner – I think they would enjoy it, as they are convinced they are the only one who knows anything about anything. I believe it is now OK to continue with Zoom meetings, and we may have to abandon in person meetings, as it costing us money when meetings have to be abandoned and re-scheduled. But Zoom meetings also cost us money when they run over time due to constant wanting to “not speak to the motion”. I am really interested in whether, having passed all the required by-laws, one of them could be right of the Chair to declare a person “not to be heard” for continual breaches of standing orders, so that the person could be muted for the rest of the meeting. Otherwise our Zoom meetings are going to continue to extend to many hours as the person demands to be heard on every single agenda item, even though what they are saying has nothing to do with the item.

[Cam]

Jimmy –  By “I would recommend, in the circumstances outlined above, that you hold a quarterly full strata committee meeting, but make sure all residents know what’s being discussed and what the outcomes of those discussions were (via an agenda and minutes) so that the troublemaker can’t claim impropriety.” do you mean  a paper meeting?

The person has distributed via letter box drop their version of the last SC meeting (the one which they completely disrupted).  The kindest way to describe it would be misinterpretation of the facts, more accurately a bunch of lies. Unfortunately it arrived before the official minutes which have come today. The Strata Agent has suggested in future SC meetings be held in his office (which is quite some distance away); the person (if they bothered to come) would be there at his invitation, and if they were disruptive, he would be prepared to call the police. I think this would be a considerable inconvenience to SC members most of whom work; finding a time suitable to all would be a struggle. At the moment it is suggested we go ahead with the idea of putting in place at an EGM standing orders, backed up by a by-law. In the mean time, I have suggested we urgently seek a face to face meeting with the Strata Agent and his lawyers to see what legal steps can be taken. At this point this committee member  just feels like resigning.  This sort of nonsense in not why we volunteer to be a SC member.

[Cam]

We already do this; meet informally, thoroughly discuss and reach our decision on each agenda item for the upcoming meeting.

Unfortunately “Then, as is proper, the actual decisions could be made and minuted at the notified meeting in quite rapid succession” simply does not happen because the disruptive person wants to speak to every agenda item, (and everything else under the sun), despite the fact that the chair, after taking a vote from SC members, tells them that permission to speak has been denied.

It seems to me (obviously this needs input from all other SC members) that from the Keymaster’s suggestion that we need to establish standing orders about behaviour, and then introduce a bylaw governing behaviour at meetings, would be very helpful.  “In fact, you might make it that if a lot owner or resident has been “named” (as per the Standing orders) and continues to breach them, they will be liable for penalties to be awarded by NCAT for breaches of by-laws”, is very attractive – this is a person for whom the concept of rational behaviour seems not to exist. I am sure this is a common-enough occurrence – where the actions of one person try to spoil the concept of strata living for everyone else.

As this has previously been a fairly harmonious working committee (and strata complex), we needed suggestions of some strategies to adopt.

[Cam]

Thanks very much for your quick and helpful response which will be passed on to our Strata Manager.

[Author]

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